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Microsoft's Support Lifecycle policy provides consistent and predictable
guidelines for product support availability at the time of product release.
The Support Lifecycle policy took effect October 15, 2002 and applies
to most products currently available through retail purchase or volume
licensing and most future release products. New enhancements for the Support
Lifecycle took effect June 1, 2004. Length of Support Product Lifecycle: Microsoft will offer a minimum of 10 years support (5 years of Mainstream
support and 5 years of Extended) for Business and Developer products. Microsoft will offer a minimum of 5 years of Mainstream support for
Consumer, Hardware, Multimedia products, and the Microsoft Business Solutions
products. Microsoft will offer a minimum of 3 years of Mainstream support for
products that are released annually, for example, Money, Encarta, Picture
It!, and Streets & Trips. Mainstream support includes: Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support,
support charged on an hourly basis, support for warranty claims) Security update support The ability to request non-security hotfixes Extended support includes: Paid support Security updates support at no additional cost Non-security related hotfix support requires a separate Extended Hotfix
Support contract to be purchased. Per-fix fees also apply. Microsoft will not accept requests for warranty support, design changes,
or new features during the Extended support phase. Extended support is not available for Consumer, Hardware, Multimedia,
and Business Solutions. Self-help online support is available for a minimum of 10 years after
the product is released. By using Microsoft's online Knowledge Base articles,
FAQs, troubleshooting tools, and other resources, many customers can quickly
resolve their issues without contacting Microsoft directly. For more information,
please visit: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/#Microsoft's_Support_Lifecycle Upcoming Product Life-Cycle Transitions The following chart shows dates through 2006 on which selected Microsoft
products will transition from one type of support to another. The major support categories are as follows: Mainstream: Free critical and important security and nonsecurity updates;
customers can request design or feature changes; paid problem resolution
and advisory services available. Covers all products. Any service packs
are typically released during this phase. Extended: Free critical and important security updates; paid problem
resolution and advisory services available; noncritical/important security
and hotfixes require Extended Hotfix Support Agreement. Covers selected
business and developer software only. Custom: Custom Support contract required for critical and important
security and nonsecurity updates and for problem resolution and advisory
services. Covers only specific products. For a complete list of product support dates, consult Microsoft's support
life-cycle pages at support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect | Product | Mainstream | Extended | Custom/Other | | | | | | | Client OS | | | | | Windows 98, 98SE | Ended June 30, 2003 | Not available | Critical security updates through June 30, 2006 ① | | Windows Me | Ended Dec 31, 2003 | Not available | Critical security updates through June 30, 2006 ① | | Windows NT 4 Workstation | Ended June 30, 2003 | Ended June 30, 2004 | Custom Support through Dec. 31, 2006 | | Windows 2000 | Ended June 30, 2005 | Ended June 30, 2010 | | | | | | | | Client Applications | | | | | Office XP | Ended June 30, 2006 | Ends June 30, 2011 | | | Server OS | | | | | Windows NT 4 Server | Ended Dec. 31, 2002 | Ended Dec. 31, 2004 | Custom Support through Dec. 31, 2006 | | Windows NT Embedded | Ended June 30, 2003 | Ends June 30, 2006 | Custom Support through Dec. 31, 2006 | | | | | | | Server Applications | | | | | Commerce Server 2000 Standard | Ends Mar. 30, 2006 | Ends Mar. 31, 2008 | | | Exchange 5.5 | Ended Dec. 31, 2003 | Ends Dec. 31, 2005 | Custom Support through Dec. 31, 2007 | | Exchange 2000 | Ends Dec. 31, 2005 | Ends Dec. 31, 2010 | | Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0
(shipped with Windows 2000) | Ended June 30, 2005 | Ends June 30, 2010 | | Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1
(shipped with Windows Server 2003) | Ends Dec. 31, 2006 | Ends Dec. 31, 2011 | | | SQL Server 7 | Ends Dec. 31, 2005 | Ends Dec. 31, 2010 | | | SQL Server 2000 ② | Through Dec. 31, 2007 | Ends Dec. 31, 2012 | | | SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition | Through Dec. 31, 2005 | Ends Dec. 31, 2007 | |
① Critical security updates will be provided on the Windows Update site
through June 30, 2006. Microsoft will not publicly release noncritical
security hotfixes for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows
Millennium Edition. However, customers may request a noncritical security
hotfix through On-Demand Security Hotfix support. This support is offered
for these products through June 30, 2006. ② Dates assume that SQL Server 2005 will release to manufacturing (RTM)
by Dec. 31, 2005. Per current policy, SQL Server 2000 will be in Mainstream
support for two years following RTM of SQL Server 2005, and will be in
Extended support for five years after the end of Mainstream support. | |
